A/N: Wow, another update? What is this? Insanity, probably. I'm going nuts. I actually had time to write today. And not just a little, but enough to catch up and surpass my needed total to stay on track. I can't honestly believe it happened, but here's another chapter. Boom. All written today. A surprise gift from my muse.

Disclaimer: Is identical as before, so I won't waste your time, but I really own nothing except the OCs. And I apologize for grammar and/or terminology.

Reviewer Response at the bottom!

I hope you enjoy!

Amy took a deep breath. This would probably be bad. She had to go back to the Slytherin common room to grab her text books that she needed for the day. Luckily she didn't have any classes, as it was a Sunday, but she was planning on studying and working on homework with the other transfers, so she needed to grab some of them.

She stood in front of the cool stone wall, and took a calming breath. "Patefacio," was the password, and after Amy said it, the wall opened to reveal the common room.

It was lit in a relaxing glow of fire and wall light. You could, on occasion, see fish swim by the windows that exposed the depths of the Hogwarts Lake. Amy didn't pay either fact much mind though, her thoughts rooted on the possible attack that awaited her.

But no one paid her any mind. In fact, some blatantly ignored her, purposefully turning away. It was rude, sure, but she didn't really mind it in light of what it could have been.

Amy slowly entered the room, and went straight in the direction of her dorm.

She ran into Lynne while in the hallway.

"Amy! Merlin's front tooth, I was worried." She said energetically.

Amy giggled. "I don't think that's a real wizard's swear."

Lynne grinned, then scowled. "You didn't come back last night!"

"Did you feed Pasco?"

"Of course I did. Here, have a hair clip." Lynne passed the blonde a sliver bow, and Amy quickly snapped it into her hair, pulling it back from her face. "I guess it was a good thing you didn't, actually."

"Why?" Amy asked, removing her fingers from her curls. "What happened last night?"

"Snape came in and told everyone that the bullying needed to stop. But, you know, he was much scarier." Lynne supplied.

"Oh dear." Amy placed her face into her hand.

"Don't worry, he didn't mention you specifically. But I have a feeling that everyone knew exactly who he was talking about." She leaned closer. "He told them that they needed to try their best to leave biases at home, and looked straight at Draco Malfoy."

Amy paled a shade, lowering her hand. "Are you serious?"

Lynne nodded. "It was pretty dramatic. I've never heard a place full of teenagers so quiet."

Amy let out a frustrated noise. "This is getting ridiculous." She began stomping back down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Lynne asked.

"I've got to grab my text books. I'll see you at lunch." She said, the frustration still evident in her voice. What Lynne said, however, did explain the blatant ignoring she'd received from the rest of Slytherin.

"What about breakfast?" Lynne called after her.

"I'm skipping." Amy shouted over her shoulder before shoving the door to her dorm room open.

It was the loud, angry shouts that cued him in first. There was trouble.

Instead of just casually walking as he had been, as the corridors were relatively empty that morning, Maxwell Johnson began to run toward the angered words that he still could not make out. They'd stopped by the time he turned the corner to find Amy, hand just inside of the front of her robe and a scowl on her face. She let out a breath of relief, her head turned to watch something at the end of the corridor.

"Amy, what happened?" Max asked her.

She turned to him, obviously flustered. "On my way to class. Stopped by… someone. I've seen them around but never caught their name."

"There was shouting. Are you all right?"

"Yeah." She dropped her hand, and Max realized she'd been reaching for her wand. "I'm fine. It just surprised me."

"What was the shouting about?" He asked, stepping closer.

She shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Amelia, they were yelling at you. It wasn't nothing."

"It was nothing to me. Apparently." She responded quickly. "It's because I went and told. Basically it was them shouting at me because what happens in Slytherin is supposed to stay there, especially when it came to me because I didn't belong there in the first place and really it's my fault anything happened to begin with."

Max realized that she was still full of adrenaline, and needed to lose some of it before she went into a full panic. "Walk with me?" He offered, gesturing in the opposite direction the Hufflyn kept looking toward in paranoia.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, not a single word exchanged. Max knew the activity would calm her down. After a stretch, she began to slow into more of a relaxed pace, and he slowed with her. "So… shouting? Nothing else?"

Amy shook her head silently.

"Well, that's good, I suppose."

She laughed. "Yes, I guess it is."

He smiled at her. "Do you have your text books?"

"Yes."

"Me, too. Let's go early." Max suggested.

Amy frowned at him. "You want to go early?"

"Sure. Then we'll get extra points in Elisa's book."

Again, she laughed softly, and looked back in the direction she was walking.

She then realized that she hadn't really had a full-length conversation with just Max, and knew very little about him. Because of this, she went through her mind for anything that could spark conversation. "Do you have any siblings, Max?" Amy asked.

He smirked. "A younger sister, actually."

Amy stopped to stare at him a moment before continuing to walk. "Really? Does she come here?"

"No, she's only seven. Wait… what day is it?"

"November first."

"Tomorrow she'll be eight. I need to send her something." Max said to himself, hoping that he would remember.

"That's wonderful!" Amy said. "Happy almost-birthday to your sister."

Max grinned, and they continued to walk. "How about you, Amy? Siblings?"

"No, I'm the only one." She said. "Scared my parents half to death, finding out that their only child had magic. Looking back, though, it was rather funny."

"What was?" Max wanted to know.

"Their faces when we went to Diagon Alley." Amy elaborated. "I loved it. But my father teaches science at a local school and was so completely baffled by everything we came across."

Max chuckled in response, and they stepped out of the doors to the same court yard they'd met in two days before. It was chilly once more, but there was no wind at the moment so it was bearable with the bright sun on a cloudless day.

Amy settled her things on the wall, pulling herself up next to them to sit. She pushed her Herbology book aside; she already had it practically memorized due to her repeated encounters with the plants listed throughout the Hufflepuff common room. And she'd just been refreshed by the visit the night before. Sleeping in her old dorm again had been nice.

Next to get moved aside was the potions book. It was the only thing she could study quietly with the exception of History of Magic and Herbology. And whenever she couldn't figure out a spell, she would angrily pull out her potions text book and read a section of it.

Amy hadn't bothered grabbing any of Professor Lockhart's novels. So the next on the stack was Transfiguration.

"Elisa mentioned that you were struggling with that." Max mentioned from where he was still standing as she lifted the text book.

Amy shrugged. "Only in practice. I've been struggling on my own, so I've tried reading a lot of different spell theory books and things like that." She said, glancing at him before opening the book. "Most of it is gibberish to me."

"Well, you are only twelve." He said.

"You're only thirteen." She countered.

He frowned before nodding his head. "That's true. I'll be fourteen in February, though. So what's your problem?"

Amy sighed. "It's just casting. Charms are the worst, but my Transfiguration isn't much better."

"And you're struggling in classes, but the professors aren't helping?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, not at all." She shook her head. "According to Professor Flitwick, I'm nearly the highest in class. Below Hermione and Draco."

"What does Elisa say?" Max wondered then.

"Well, she says I'm doing really well, too."

"Then why do you think you're struggling?"

"I don't think," She told him. "I know I am. They aren't working."

He crossed his arms. "All right, then show me."

Amy huffed, stood, pulled out her wand, and lifted it. "Lumos." As she spoke the word, her wand's tip light up with a light Max could see easily, even though they were outside in the day time. "Nox." The light vanished.

She frowned, and pointed her wand at a stray leaf settled on the stones in front of her. "Confringo." The dead, therefore dry, leaf suddenly burst into flames, the bright fire encasing it and turning it to ash in a matter of seconds. She scowled at the blackened spot on the ground.

Max unfolded his arms and pulled himself onto the stone wall lining the edge of the courtyard. "It seems to be working fine."

"Then… why doesn't it work when I'm alone?" Amy asked, frustration evident in her voice. "It takes forever for me to learn anything."

"You've got those three really well." Max observed. "Better than me. I still struggle with Confringo."

She huffed, stuffed her wand back into its place in her robes, and pulled herself up onto the wall next to him. "I just… don't understand it."

Max nodded his head. "I wish I had an answer for you, but I'm equally confused." He admitted.

Amy sighed sadly. "I wish you did, too."

About an hour later, Jasper and Elisabeth arrived. They spent an hour or so studying in relative silence, only speaking when they had questions or something to discuss with the group. Due to the difference in years, everyone learned something new from their peers. Even Jasper, who was the oldest, because he took the time to listen to Elisabeth's point of view on a few different wars that happened in Magical History.

Beyond that, though… everything went normally. Until they went to leave. They were all headed for lunch, but Max held Jasper back, telling the girls to go on ahead. They traded questioning looks, but did so without comment.

The ginger turned his brown eyes to meet Max's. "What is it?"

"There's a reason Amy and I were early to the meeting point today." Max admitted, and explained the encounter he'd just missed in the corridor between Amelia Ross and another Slytherin.

Throughout the explanation, Jasper's face grew more serious. When Max finished, he exhaled sharply through his nose, and looked away without a word.

Max watched him for a moment. "Listen, mate. I know we've got loads of differences, but this isn't good. You said you had a friend that could watch her."

"I do, but I haven't gotten a chance to talk with him yet." Jasper admitted.

"Will he actually keep an eye on her, though? Or won't he?" Max asked seriously.

"He will. Trust me." Jasper said.

Max gave him a look, and the Slytherpuff sighed. "I know that's hard, Johnson, but do it. Besides, you know who I'm talking about."

Maxwell frowned. "I do?"

"Rory Nelson." Jasper told him.

"Ah, the one who came up with your nickname?" Max checked with a sly smile.

Jasper glared. "Yes, him. He already keeps a good eye on her."

"What for?"

"He… helps muggleborns in Slytherin." Jasper said carefully. He'd been hesitant to say anything before, so he hadn't. But after the last few months of knowing Max, he knew he could trust him. Even if the feeling wasn't mutual.

"Well, he must be out of a job often." Max remarked. But when he received a hard stare from Jasper, he lifted his eyebrows. "Oh. You mean… there's…?"

"Yes."

"And you… you don't…?"

"No."

"You actually… I mean you actually know this but haven't said anything?" Max couldn't believe it, it seemed.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Yes, I knew about it. No, I haven't said anything because it's still secret."

"But you're a pure-blood Slytherin!" Max exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean I'm evil!" Jasper retorted. "It just means I'm privileged. Now come on. Enough worrying about that. I'll talk to Nelson later, but we have to get Lunch before it's over."

Max was relatively silent for the rest of the walk, and even after he sat at the Ravenclaw table on his own, he stayed absorbed in a thoughtful silence. It was a big deal, learning the information Jasper had just provided him with. There were muggleborns in Slytherin.

About half way through the lunch, he looked up to find Jasper at the Hufflepuff table, smiling at something one of the Hufflepuff students had said and frowned. Jasper wasn't what he'd been told Pure-Bloods were supposed to be like.

And neither apparently was his house, Max noted as he turned in his seat to find two people seated with Amy and making her laugh. It was just so bizarre. And suddenly Max saw that prejudice went both ways. And, no matter what side of the battle you're on, prejudice was always unfounded once looked for in the group as a whole.

Amelia walked back to the common room with Lynne and Rory after the meal, smiling and laughing as they discussed absolutely nothing they would remember as important at a later date. It was the memory of the smiles that would stick in their minds, which is as it should be.

But upon their entry, Amy had to leave them. "Hold on, I have to put my textbooks back. I don't want to keep carrying them around." She said.

"You should learn a shrinking charm." Rory said. "Then you could carry all of them easier."

"But wouldn't they have the same weight, just condensed?" Amy asked.

Rory frowned. "Sorry?"

Amy shook her head, thinking that she could just also learn a feather-light charm to make it easier. "Never mind. I'll be back in a moment." She said as a way of farewell before walking down the hall to her dorm room.

Once she opened the door, however, a horrible smell filled her nose, and caused her to need to swallow hard before she would vomit. It smelled like when her father had accidentally left one of his dissecting projects in the kitchen without taking care of them.

She tried her best to ignore it as she went to her trunk to place her books in it. But the smell only got stronger. That was when an idea occurred to her, and she felt the blood rush from her face as her heart began to beat harder.

She put her books away with shaking arms, and crawled over to the side of her bed. Slowly, terrified of what she would find, Amy pulled the small cage out from under her bed frame. Inside was Pasco, unmoving. Tears filled her eyes as she stared at him, hoping beyond reason that she would see him move, breathe, something.

But nothing happened.

She pulled out her wand in a shaking hand. "Tergeo."

As she spoke the spell, the dirt and decay that was covering the bottom of the container disappeared, along with most of the smell, just leaving her frog. She sniffed, and wiped her face on her robe sleeve before putting her wand away and lifting the cage.

She carried it out into the common room, looking at it numbly.

"Amy? What's wrong?" Rory asked when she got close enough for them to notice her and what she was holding.

Lynne stepped closer to look in the cage, and covered her mouth with her hand in mute horror.

Rory came closer, and looked into the cage. "Oh, Amy."

She tearfully tried to explain. "I… I was helping him." She sniffed. "He was hurt. His leg… and I was helping him. He was almost better." There was a broken sob. "I was going to let him out on Tuesday. But…" She began to cry.

Lynne stared at her, unsure of what to do, hand still over her mouth.

Rory looked around to see how many people she'd drawn the attention of, and found quite a few. The common room was relatively empty due to a Hogsmeade visit, but a couple specifically were smirking, and he glared at them. So this wasn't an accident, then?

"Come on. Let's go." He rested a hand gently on her shoulder and guided her out of the common room and up the steps. It took until they were in the corridors and on their way outside when she finally regained control of herself. And by then, her eyes were red and puffy, and she was completely silent.

The memory of laughing was gone then. She was left with only the fleeting sense that she'd experienced it before. But it brushed the back of her mind like the breeze brushed at sand. Shifting it slightly, but never disrupting what was present.

When they exited the castle, Rory led them to the lake. On the beautiful day, quite a few students were walking about in the yards, but none of them paid attention to the funeral march that was happening with the two Slytherins and transfer student.

Lynne opened the cage and looked inside. "What do you want to do, Amy?"

She shook her head mutely, indicating that she didn't know.

Rory thought for a moment. "I think I have an idea."

He left them for a moment, and came back with a rather large leaf. It was of the same length as Rory's forearm, and it was thick. Lynne caught on quickly, and reached into the cage, lifting Pasco gently.

She set the frog into the leaf in Rory's hands, and Rory placed it on the river. The frog began to float away peacefully.

Amy inhaled deeply, and set the cage down at her feet before scrambling for her wand. Just as Rory and Lynne were both about to ask what she was doing, she pointed it clumsily at the floating frog and said a spell. "Incendio." The frog and leaf lit on fire.

She didn't stay to watch, the Hufflyn hefting the now-empty cage underneath her arm and striding back toward the castle without another word.

Rory and Lynne, on the other hand, stayed for a moment, standing in silence as if to honor the memory of the frog Amy had kept under her bed.

"It's probably my fault." Lynne said softly, after a few minutes. "I fed him last night, and Mavis was there. Amy always waited until the other girls were gone, but it was already late and they wouldn't be leaving. So I tried to feed him without her noticing. I thought I did. But I guess not."

Rory nodded. "Things happen, Morr."

"But they shouldn't." Lynne countered. "Not to anyone." She looked Rory in the eyes, which made her have to look up as he was rather tall. "Not to Amy."

She then followed after her friend.

Rory stayed to make sure the fire went out safely.

A/N: That was sad. I don't like writing sad things, but there's a sad thing. Will there be more sad things? Probably. I'm running out of words. Also, I have no coffee.

Reviewer Response:

imasurvivor21: Thank you so much for your review! I'm so incredibly happy that you're excited about my posting things often. Isn't it lovely when you can just get updates like this all of the time? I love it. Also, expect me to be posting a lot. Probably not every day, as it has been, but more often then I would otherwise. Probably every other day-ish? I'm not sure. Thank you so much for reading my story!

Thank you to those who have favorited/followed/reviewed my story! You're all amazing.

Catch you later